A Good Night For Pepper
by Mimi-Tachikawa-Ishida
Summary: ONESHOT FLUFF. Pepperony! They go on a date. rated T for an implied sexual situation at the very beginning.


Disclaimer: I don't own IronMan or anything of the sort.

Random Fluff! Tony x Pepper (Iron Man)

A/N: just because I wrote this without doing my research (I know I know- but the fic is still cute!), the restaurants listed are real and located in New York City. Google them- I did. Also, I have to say that when I was writing the ending, the song "You Can Be As Loud As The Hell You Want" from Avenue Q came on my playlist, and I was SOOOOOO tempted to make this dirty. But I didn't, because I think they're ooc enough as it is.

also, this was not beta-ed...so expect a few grammatical errors. ON WITH THE SHOW!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Pepper walked into Tony's living room as his latest venture walked around in one of his "disposable" bathrobes. Pepper smiled as she sufficiently scared the little redhead out of her wits.

"Oh! Wait, I know you! You're Tony's secretary, right?" she answered, "Pepper Potts," and nodded.

" I'm Amber," the girl extended her hand and Pepper shook it- sometimes it was hard to throw the nice ones out. "Could you do me a favor and get me some coffee, Pepper?" Amber stated as she sat comfortably on Tony's couch- sometimes it wasn't so hard to kick these girls out.

"Actually Amber," Pepper reached into the closet by the door and pulled out Amber's clothes, "Mr. Stark has requested for me to make sure you properly get home safely," Pepper withheld the huge grin that wanted to come out at Amber's look of shock on her face, and kept her professionalism, "You're clothes have been dry-cleaned, and one of Mr. Starks chauffeurs is waiting outside, ready to take you anywhere in the city." Amber huffed, red-faced and grabbed the hanger with her clothes out of Pepper's hand. Pepper added, "You may use the restroom by the door. Thank you, and Mr. Stark sends his best regards."

She didn't know WHY exactly she was remembering that scenario this morning. Maybe because it was the last time she had to do it, and said time was almost three weeks before. She shook her head and Pepper headed downstairs where she knew for a fact that Tony was. Before the door closed behind her, she heard his voice from the back of his head.

"Hey Pepper?"

"Yes?"

"What's your favorite restaurant? For curiosity's sake, you know, research and such." Pepper smiled and sat down on a chair behind him.

"Well, I actually really like this place called 'Empanada Joe's,'" food was starting to sound good about now.

"Nah, too cheap. Something more pricey," he typed something on his keyboard.

"Um… 'Slate Plus' then."

"That's a little better, I didn't know you liked billiards?" At this he turned around to face her.

"Believe it or not, there's still a lot you don't know about me, Tony."

"That's a bar too. I'll keep that one in mind." Pepper gave him a suspicious look before he continued, gesturing with his hands, "What else? How about a really expensive place you've never been to, but you've been wanting to go to?"

"Are you sure this is just for research purposes?" she lifted an eyebrow at him.

"No, now I'm attempting to get to know you better."

"I don't know. I don't really go out much."

"Are you busy tonight?"

"What? Not unless you need me to do something?"

"You know what? I do." Pepper seemed a bit disappointed. As much as she loved being around Tony, her days and even nights off were few and far between. "Jarvis, get the things I bought." The robot's arms pulled out two beautiful Japanese kimonos, which Tony promptly took, "Thank you." He turned toward Pepper and seemed indifferent, "Well, I mean, I kind of made that Japanese place, 'Masa' – have you heard of it? Well, nevermind, they're set to close tonight for me and a guest for dinner." Pepper abruptly stood up.

"Tony, I am not going to be a replacement girl for you just because you haven't had one in a while."

"You noticed? Actually Pepper, I never planned on going to this place with anyone else. I made the reservations a few months ago." She blushed.

"I-I can't. I'm busy tonight," why she was turning him down was beyond her- God knows she wanted more than anything to be alone with him in a romantic setting- of course, she wasn't stupid either.

"You just said you weren't busy. Come on Pepper, I can't go in there without the girl I bought this kimono for?" damn he was such a sweet talker…or manipulator. Either way, hard to resist.

"Fine, I'll go. If anything, just so you don't lose your reputation," she carefully took the female kimono and had to refrain from gawking. It was beautiful. Okay, MAYBE she was just a little bit stupid.

"That's my girl," he smiled at her then went back to his notes.

Well, now, it was settled. After that awkward conversation (awkward in her opinion), she asked if there was anything she could do for him, to which he promptly answered, "Cancel all my appointments for today." Pepper then went about doing just that, then after checking up on everything else he hadn't done, but needed to do, time had flown, and she went downstairs again (for probably the 10th time today).

"Tony, I'm going home to get ready for tonight," thank god he wasn't looking in her direction- the way she said it so casually, she made herself blush a bright tomato color.

"I'll be there at 6:30," was his only answer, followed by an "ow!" when a spark flew in his general direction.

Pepper knew how to dress herself up- how to make herself look like the girl someone would have to do a double take with. She knew she was beautiful, but the difference between her and other pretty girls was that she didn't exactly WANT all the attention.

She was just finishing her hair (on her way home, she purchased some glass chopsticks, and a cherry blossom hair pin), when her doorbell rang. She gave herself a once over and gathered her purse and keys, then opened the door.

"Wow," was his first reaction, followed by, "You look amazing. That looks really good on you."

"Thank you," she said quietly while she averted her gaze and blushed slightly. _THIS IS NOT A DATE!_ she found having to yell at herself, before locking the door and following Tony to his limousine.

Once at the restaurant, the service was amazing. The food was amazing, and she kept asking him "how much did you spend for this?" to which his reply would always be, "does it really matter? Enjoy yourself." After giving up on asking him the price, she relaxed a little and did just that. She enjoyed herself- much to her sanity's dismay. Why did he have to do this to her? Did he LIKE playing with her heart? Did he even know he was doing it? His voice interrupted her thought process.

"Hey, Pepper, you okay? You need some water?" his turned to the waiter, "Can we have some water please?" She snapped out of whatever trance she had put herself in.

"No, no I'm fine," she smiled and said "thank you" to the waiter, and took a sip of her water, "I'm just getting tired, that's all."

"No problem, I'll take you home," he stood up and paid the waiter, not waiting for any change, and escorted her out of the restaurant and back in the limo. Once inside, he seemed like he was trying to think of something to say- or how to say it.

"Did you have a good time?" This question caught her off guard, though she didn't know why.

"Yes, I did. It was a very nice gesture, thank you for taking me," she smiled at him.

"Good, I'm glad. I just kinda, you know, wanted to show you that I appreciate what you do for me," she blushed- she was doing that a lot today.

"Thank you," and they were quiet (not awkward in any sense this time), just comfortably quiet, until they arrived at her apartment. He opened the door for her, took her hand, and escorted her to the door.

"Well, that was…" she started.

"Great? Amazing? Best night of your life?" he attempted to continue with a cocky smile.

"Nice."

"Nice," he leaned in as if to kiss her, to which she responded by hesitantly leaning in as well, "Nice is…good." Her logic got the better of her and she kissed him on the cheek at the last minute.

"Thank you. Goodnight Tony," she turned to unlock her door.

"Pepper," she turned, as he grabbed her wrist, softly, yet forcefully, and kissed her lips. She hesitated at first, but after the initial shock, she let herself kiss him in return. It seemed like a glorious eternity had passed when their lips parted, each breathing short ragged breaths. She was speechless.

"Goodnight Pepper," he smiled at her then turned and headed to his open door, then with a satisfied smirk at the still shocked woman, he closed the door.

"Goodnight…" she finally turned at opened her door, and smiled to herself.

It had been a very good night for a one Virginia "Pepper" Potts.


End file.
